Don’t those cherries just look so good? A real taste of summer in the middle of winter. I received them in a parcel of ingredients from the French company, Sabarot. The company was formed in 1819 by an ancestor of the current manager and Sabarot aim to maintain the traditions and know how passed down through the family.
Sabarot specialise in red fruits, dried vegetables (including puy lentils), dried mushrooms and snails, and they sent me a selection of their produce.
I haven’t tried all the products yet, but I have cooked the mushrooms in some risotto and they were very good quality. I decided to use the cherries in a Cherry and Almond Frangipane dessert. These cherries have had the stones removed and presented in a jar with a light juice. The juice and cherries are not particularly sweet which means you can regulate the sweetness yourself or even use them in savoury dishes. As I was making a dessert and wanted a slightly thicker and sweeter syrup, I heated the juice gently in a pan and added a teaspoon of cornflour slaked with a little water, once cooked out this created the texture of a cherry pie filling as shown in the first photograph.
Cherry and Almond Frangipane
Serves 6
1 jar Sabarot cherries in juice
100g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
for the Frangipane
55g butter
55g caster sugar
40g ground almonds
1 large egg
15g plain flour
1. Heat the oven to 180C/170C fan oven
2. Put the juice from the cherries and the sugar in a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Mix the cornflour with a little water and add to the warm, sweetened cherry juice and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 2 minutes,stirring all the time until the starch is cooked out.
4. Add the cherries to the sauce and place in a shallow dish, leave to cool slightly.
4. Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, beat together the frangipane ingredients.
5. Spoon the frangipane mixture over the cherries.
6. Bake at 170C for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.
7. Serve with cream or greek yogurt.
I was very pleased with how the cherries worked with the frangipane. I’ve made a cherry frangipane before with fresh cherries but the bottled cherries had a lovely intensity of flavour and were a good contrast to the soft, almond sponge.
I was supplied with these products by Sabarot for review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own.
Heidi Roberts says
Almond and cherry is a classic combination that always works so well!
Choclette says
Ooh yum, what more can I say?
Deena Kakaya says
These are some of my absolute favourite ingredients, going to give this a try x
GG says
Ooh I bet these cherries are great in the frangipani , great looking dessert. GG
Stuart Vettese says
Looks delicious Janice. Loving the blog's new look too.
Janice Pattie says
Thanks all, it's a favourite combination that I really love.
Karen S Booth says
What a tres chic parcel Janice, I love the recipe you created too! A French Classic done the farmersgirl way, fabulous! Karen
Sarah Trivuncic says
Those cherries look lush Janice! And I love frangipane filling 🙂
Hope you're surviving with Operation Dry Rot, am following the photos on FB, I hope it will be over for you soon.
Sylvia F. says
I love almond and cherries! It always goes well with everything 🙂
belleau kitchen says
oh Janice, what a stunning bake… the combo of almonds and cherries is simply gorgeous and this looks like the kind of old-fashion pud I would so thoroughly polish off in seconds… and then go back for more!
Tina Anand says
Almonds and cherries go perfectly well together, and your frangipane bake looks divine.
Ren Behan says
The cherries look amazing as do the morels, which can be very difficult to find, dried. The cherry and almond bake looks divine, too!
Jane Sarchet says
Jeesh, that looks fabulous! I haven't had cherries for an age as Jonny doesn't like them. May have to treat myself 😉
Janie x
London Unattached Travel Blog says
what lovely looking products! AND you have a new look and feel?
Alison says
That looks gorgeous
Lou, Eat Your Veg says
Oh scrumptious! I do love a frangipane and the classic almond and cherry pairing is truly sublime. They look like fabulous quality jarred cherries too, I regularly used to buy something similar when we lived in France 🙂
Anne Szadorska says
I love anything cherry based – always makes me think of warmer times! Very handy already stoned in a jar too for you, no pink stained fingers after!
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
Lovely Janice.
Now what will you be making with those lovely dried mushrooms?
Jacqueline Meldrum says
Still loving that banner, just had to say that and dessert looks pretty darn scrumptious!
Fishfingers for tea says
Loving the new look Janice! Almond and cherry is such a great combination and your bake looks lovely. I'll be interested to see what you do with the snails!
Jayne says
Yum! Cherry and almond are favourites of mine, this sounds so good!
Madeleine Morrow says
Looks like a great dish for Valentine's Day. Cherries always cheer up a grey winter day
Sisley White says
This is looks fabulous Janice. I love cherries!
plasterer bristol says
Hmm these look delicious, thanks for posting up this recipe, looks quite simple to make.
Simon